Boucher rips Sens for defensive breakdown

PHILADELPHIA — It’s impossible to say for sure, but the Senators just might be the worst 9-5-1 team ever.

At least that’s the way it felt the morning after Sunday’s overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Coach Guy Boucher was furious with the way his players performed against the Wild and the next day’s practice was 15 minutes late starting as he made that point clear to them. It wasn’t so much because they had failed to score more than two goals for the ninth consecutive game, or the 11th in a row when you take away a couple of empty netters. And it wasn’t all about a power play that has slipped from bad to worse to worst in the NHL with a 9.3% rate of success.

What ticked Boucher off most was the way the Senators defended, or didn’t. The 37 shots they allowed in regulation was one off the season high they gave up in their opening-night victory over the Maple Leafs.

“For me, it’s unacceptable,” Boucher told the media after a fast-paced 35 minute session that pre-empted the team flight to Philadelphia for Tuesday’s game against the Flyers. “We gave a lot of free shots, for no reason. We were there defensively. We were in the right places. But we didn’t work hard enough to prevent those shots.”

Another coach, at another time, might be more exasperated with an offence that now ranks 27th in the league — averaging just 2.20 goals per game — or a power play that has become embarrassing in its futility. But Boucher’s top priority was to spin the Senators 180 degrees defensively. He’s almost halfway there. They’re winning because they’re not giving up the same number of chances as the 2015-16 Senators that allowed more shots per game than any other team. As of Monday, the Senators ranked 19th in that category.

Asked about being frustrated when his team had just finished taking five of a possible six points, Boucher replied:

“Yes, but it’s very specific frustration of yesterday. I don’t have a big frustration over the last 10 games. It’s hard to do much better than we’re doing right now, in terms of getting points.”

What really had his shorts in a knot was the shorthanded goal the Senators gave up to Ryan Suter. In his mind, they should have won because 5-on-5, they managed to get one.

“If you don’t score on the power play, it’s not the end of the world,” Boucher said. “But if you get scored against because we were soft defending on it, that’s the game right there.”

He didn’t name names, but Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson were the guilty parties.

Hoffman’s own frustration was evident when Matt Dumba scored the winner in OT. The TV cameras caught Hoffman on the bench as he slammed his water bottled down then threw it on the ice.

“When I get a 2-on-1 in overtime and have an open net and I miss, it’s totally on me,” Hoffman said in explaining his actions Monday. “I’m here to put that puck in the net. If I do, we win the game and we wouldn’t be talking about too many things as we are right now.

“I miss and they go down, and a minute or so later they ended up scoring. That was kind of the biggest thing for me. I let my team down not scoring that goal.”

Meanwhile, the Senators are wondering how long the smoke and mirrors act can last. They are currently on pace for 104 points, which last season would have made them the second seed in the Eastern Conference. But at some point, they have to start putting the puck in the net — both with the man advantage and at even strength.

Their oath to Boucher’s system is being tested.

“Every shift,” said Bobby Ryan, who is tied for third in team scoring with just three goals. “Because you just want to go offence. I can speak for all of us, I think. When you feel like you’re letting everybody down, when you’re not creating offence, when you’re not scoring, when you’re not generating momentum … I think we all feel like we’re playing in the neutral zone a lot. It’s tough at times.

“I got caught cheating (Sunday night), and then I got stuck out there for two minutes. Came back, you hear about it, then you’re like ‘OK, now I know where I was wrong’. You put it away and you go forward. But yes, every shift you try not to cheat.”

Said Hoffman: “Obviously we’ve got to change something. Doing what we’re doing hasn’t been making us too successful at scoring goals, or in the offensive zone. We don’t have to change anything defensively. We’re playing great defensively. But obviously we need to get to those dirty areas a little more, inside, getting screens on the goalie. Making it tougher on them to track the puck is a big thing right now.”

It always has been. But a task that seems so simple is one the Senators can’t figure out how to complete. If they ever do, they might even improve on their deceiving record.

Marc Methot had played less than four minutes of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild when he excused himself from the game with an unspecified lower body tightness. Boucher was prepared for the possibility, which is why he dressed seven defenceman.

Methot felt good enough to be a full participant in Monday’s practice and was hopeful to stay that way for the meet up with the Flyers.

“I wasn’t doing very much out there. I don’t think I was being very helpful,” said Methot, who has had a solid start to the season as Erik Karlsson’s left-hand man on the Senators blue line. “I made the call to get out of the game and get it treated. At that point, it was a no-brainer. I’m glad I did it.”

Methot, who wouldn’t confirm his status for Tuesday’s game because he’s not sure how he’ll feel when he wakes up, said the injury is not related to the buttocks issue that kept him out of the lineup for a large chunk of the 2014-15 season.

“It isn’t related to anything I’ve dealt with in the past,” he said. “I’ve been playing a few years, I know you’ve got to take extra care of yourself. It’s a violent game. It’s physical. You don’t want to make any premature calls.”

Especially when the Senators are carrying an extra defenceman.

“All these guys are NHL players,” said Methot. “When a guy goes down, we know we can be replaced.”

Chris Wideman was praised by coach Guy Boucher on Sunday, his first game back after missing five with an upper body injury.

Wideman was tied for the team lead in shots, with five.

“I was just trying to get (the puck) down to the net,” Wideman said. “I think any time you’re struggling to score goals, the more pucks on net, whether it’s a rebound or it gets tipped or it just goes straight in, pucks to the net are going to create. Right now it’s a pretty big focus.”

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